Finding Neverland

Finding Neverland is a 2004 film, starring Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet. It is a semi-fictional account of the experiences of Peter Pan author J. M. Barrie that led him to write the children's classic. more...

In the movie, he befriends a young widow - and more importantly, her four sons - and their experiences together give him the ideas for a story about boys who don't want to grow up.

Tagline: Unlock your imagination.

Cast & crew

The film is directed by Marc Forster, previously responsible for Monster's Ball; the screenplay was adapted by David Magee from the play The Man Who Was Peter Pan by Allan Knee. It features a song written by Elton John. Also appearing are Dustin Hoffman, Julie Christie and Radha Mitchell.

Finding Neverland was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Actor for Johnny Depp. It won the Academy Award for Best Original Score by Jan A. P. Kaczmarek. It was also nominated for several other awards, including a Screen Actors' Guild Award for Freddie Highmore for playing the part of "Peter".

Box Office

US Gross Domestic Takings: US$ 51,680,613

+ Other International Takings: $64,970,000

= Gross Worldwide Takings: $116,650,613

Trivia

• Finding Neverland was originally scheduled to be released in the fall of 2003, but Columbia Pictures, which had the rights to Barrie's play for their film Peter Pan, refused to allow Miramax to use certain scenes from the play in Finding Neverland if it were to be released at the same time. Miramax thus agreed to delay the release of Finding Neverland by one year in exchange for the rights to use Barrie's words.

• The film was at one point (before release) called J.M. Barrie's Neverland

• The film also featured a Landseer dog as Barrie's pet, which was the breed of dog in the original Peter Pan story.

• Freddie Highmore and Johnny Depp are also in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory together with Highmore playing Charlie and Depp playing Willy Wonka.

• In the movie, Depp's character is obsessed with Shakespeare, and he quotes him furiously, especially during the shootout sequence.

Differences with the true story

In reality:

• there were five boys instead of four
• Arthur Llewellyn-Davies was still alive when Barrie met Sylvia and her sons
• Sylvia died in 1910, six years after the Peter Pan play was premiered (1904)

Read more at Wikipedia.org